I completely disagree. That kind of tournament would be thoroughly worthless as they would only be playing teams of equal calibre and never experience any higher competition, thus their skills won't improve much. They already play plenty of games amongst themselves and it's just not doing enough good.

Zimbabwe was almost in the eight at 2000. They would be there now if it weren't for Mugabe. I'm sure we all remember the game in Perth in the 2000-01 season where Zimbabwe would have beaten Australia if it hadn't been for an inspired move of Andrew Symonds' fielding position that cut two crucial attemps at two runs down to one run each.

Kenya too imploded due to politics, I think this time it was a pay dispute and trouble within their hierarchy.

And Bangladesh? How can you say they're struggling just as they find their feet! They're downing India and South Africa and just need a bit of time for their young team to find consistency. They're really just like some of Australia's new bowlers like Tait (shit one day, great the next), except on the level of an entire team. When they all fire on the same day, they can beat just about anyone.

So I think the minnows that prove themselves need to more regularly meet the top eight. Ireland could annually play England, that would do them wonders. An African competition featuring South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya would probably be a good idea - we all saw what heightened southeast Asian competition has done for Sri Lanka and now is doing for Bangladesh. I'm not saying to throw them in at the deep end, but at least an annual series against decent opposition. Access to the domestic competitions in top flight countries like England and Australia is pretty crucial too, so that the minnows' players can gain more match practice.

The cricketing calender is already jam-packed with too many irrelevant tournaments as it is.

I'm fine with the occasional match or tournament featuring a "minnow", but I just don't think that some of these matches between Australia- Namibia, Sri Lanka-Ireland deserve full One-Day International status. Sure the team might be getting experience against world class opposition, but what use is facing just the one ball from Glenn McGrath and being dismissed? Cricketing records are looking farcical.

One Day Cricket is in severe strife around the world anyway. 20/20 will probably eclipse it in regards to popularity within 5 or 6 years.

And what about "real cricket"? We cannot have Ireland and Kenya playing test cricket, not yet anyway. The only way to ensure these nations are test-ready is by having a B-competition, where the 5-day matches are hyper competitive and on a regular basis.

Probably the greatest hurdle regarding the Dutch and the Irish and the UAE is that ultimately, the passion for the sport of cricket is not there.

What I think is the great shame is that Brian Lara, agrubably the greatest player of the 15 years or so, came into the team as the Windies were already in a steady decline. He missed out on their golden era.

^ I know, Australia has made it incredibly boring. There has been no competition whatsoever. The Eng vs WI game was the best game of the tournament. I reckon the Aussies will flog Sri Lanka in the final. It won't be close or exciting. Australia will make 350 then bowl them out for 150.